Orange To Increase Aids Protection Jail To Test More Inmates, Masks Will Shield Officers From Disease

November 1, 1985|By Bob Levenson of The Sentinel Staff

Orange County jail officials will expand the number of inmates they test for possible exposure to the AIDS virus, Sheriff Lawson Lamar said Thursday.

In addition, deputies and corrections officers will get protective masks to wear when giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to protect them from the virus, Lamar said.

The sheriff announced the changes after meeting with top jail officials earlier this week. Lamar called the meeting after tests on at least six jail inmates showed they could be potential carriers of the disease and a jail guard sued the department after being bitten by an inmate whom tests later showed might have been exposed to the disease.

Tests of the six inmates in the past three months showed they have AIDS antibodies in their systems, which means they probably were exposed to the disease. No inmate has contracted the fatal disease.

Jail policy has been to test only those inmates who bring with them medical records showing positive results of previous tests for antibodies, those who ask to be tested, or someone who had to be tested for a highly specific reason, such as the inmate who bit the guard.

Lamar said medical workers will give blood tests to incoming prisoners who ''have certain profiles.'' He said that those prisoners among the three high-risk groups ''obviously would be among those'' tested. He declined to be more specific.

Lamar said jail medical employees are wearing specially adapted masks when performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or working closely with prisoners, because they often are working with diseased patients.

Several hundred similar masks will be ordered for deputies and jail guards, he said.

Both changes will result in additional costs to the sheriff's budget, but Lamar said he thought they could be absorbed without extra appropriations from the county commission.

Officials won't know how much the masks will cost until they decide which type to order. It costs the department about $22 to have the county health department analyze blood tests on each inmate.

Lamar said jail officials will continue their policy of putting inmates who test positive for antibodies in medical isolation cells for the duration of their sentences.

He said he hopes the moves will quell fear among guards that they will catch the disease. Although no guards have quit over the issue, many are extremely concerned, jail sources have said.

''It's hard to deal with people's perceptions, especially when there's so much unknown about the disease,'' Lamar said. ''But the percentages of people who have positive test results are miniscule, and I think most of our people know that.''